- Venue
- RBSA Gallery
- Date
- Saturday, February 18, 2023
10:45 AM - Address
- 4 Brook Street, St. Paul's Square, Birmingham, B3 1SA
- Location
- West Midlands
- Organiser
- Vital Signs
Is the city of Birmingham a living organism? With Dr Alexandra Penn and Lee Mackenzie
Saturday 18th February
10.45am – 1.15pm including a local urban walk (not wheelchair accessible)
2.15pm – 3.30pm gallery based activity
FREE but booking essential (book for one or both sessions) at https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/vital-signs-at-the-rbsa-gallery-1523669
Join evolutionary biologist, “artificial life” practitioner and complexity scientist Alex Penn and artist/poet Lee Mackenzie on a creative walking workshop to investigate how and whether the city and its constituent parts work like an ecosystem.
What are the needs of a factory? What are the outputs of a road junction? What ecological niche does a cafe create? By exploring these questions we will see the city in a new light and consider what makes something alive and whether new forms of life are already all around us.
The afternoon session led by poet and artist Lee Mackenzie will build on experiences of the morning walk to draw, write, and create maps that focus on your place within the world based around Lee’s personal specialism: Poetry Maps and psychogeography. See https://www.leemackenziepoet.com/poetry-maps
These sessions are open to adults and accompanied young adults (age 13 plus). Participants can attend one or both sessions.
N.B. Participants should expect to encounter the usual hazards of the urban landscape during the morning walk and will need suitable all-weather clothing. If attending both sessions you are welcome to bring a packed lunch.
